


On Camera

by thegothamkid



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-14 22:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4582635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegothamkid/pseuds/thegothamkid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall is a gamer and Harry is the vlogger that he's been pining over. They finally do a collab video.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Camera

**Author's Note:**

  * For [victoria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoria/gifts).



> Happy birthday Victoria, I love you so so so so so much and I really hope you like this xoxo
> 
> (read this before asking for prompts: [Prompt Rules](http://thegothamkid.tumblr.com/post/126841252866/my-prompt-rules) )

"You idiot! Shit, shit, shit, shit-" Niall chanted, his eyes fixed onto the computer screen in front of him as his fingers danced across his controller, pressing each memorized button sequence he had to get his avatar to safety. He was testing out one of the newest video games on the shelves and had been doing pretty good but now here he was, nearly falling out of his computer chair as he watched his player die a horrible death. Niall hung his head in defeat at the sound of a losing game, dropping his hands down into his lap as he let out a laugh before bringing his gaze up at the camera set in front of him.

"Sorry guys, I guess I've still got some work to do with this one." Niall grinned, his cheeks flushed slightly due to the embarrassment of losing as he pulls his headset off of his head. "But tell me what you think and I'll be sure to upload another video for this game next week." Niall aimed to release a new gaming video at least once a week—the exact day varying—and had been pretty persistent, even to the point of being flooded with messages if he happened to wait until the very last day. Fortunately, he had managed to be on time this week. 

"If you haven't already, please subscribe below and maybe give this video a thumbs up. I hope you guys liked this video and I'll see you all next week, bye!" Niall gave a bright smile and drug out the last word as he waved, using his other hand to shut the camera off with the click of a button before closing out of his game to begin editing and uploading his freshly recorded video to YouTube. 

Niall was, in fact, a YouTuber. A _gamer_ to be precise. He spends most of his time in front of his camera playing the newest games and trying his best at interacting with all of his followers. All 2,745,857 of them. Granted, he doesn't get to all of them―even though he wished that he could―but he does go through and send out a few messages when he has the time. He decided that the free time he had while he waited would be good time for some friendly interaction so he pulled up twitter and instantly checked his direct messages. Most were the usual compliments and game requests that Niall had gotten used to but several that he came across mentioned his fellow YouTuber, Harry Styles. Niall had never met Harry, never interacted with him online or anything, even though they both lived in the same city. But Niall could see that they shared a large number of fans due to the amount of people requesting that they do a collaboration video. Niall had seen messages like this plenty of times before but he never gave much thought to it. Harry's follower count surpassed Niall's by a little more than four hundred thousand, coming in at 3,158,034, and Niall wasn't sure why but he always assumed that he'd never have the opportunity. Not that he had actually tried to pursue it. He had seen Harry's videos before―usually recordings of himself doing the latest internet challenge, pulling pranks on his friends, or doing whatever else that came to his mind it seemed―and Niall found him hilarious and charming and it was for that reason that Niall felt he didn't stand a chance. How was he supposed to collaborate with a guy like that? Harry was _Harry_ and Niall was just, well, Niall. But today, with the help of a mental pep talk, he decided to be brave and quickly got to typing, fingers tapping away at his keyboard. 

Niall paused and stared at his screen, his mouse hovering over the 'tweet' button as his eyes read over his message what seemed to be a thousand times. Chewing anxiously at his bottom lip, Niall tried to coax himself into following through and sat back in his chair, his hand still on the mouse. He became suddenly afraid of looking like some sort of idiot and possibly even being dismissed but Niall took a deep breath and told himself that he must just be over thinking it, that there was no reason to be so nervous, and with that he quickly pressed send. 

' _ **@niallofficial:** So I've seen a bunch of you guys wanting @harrystyles and I to do a collab ! ..whatdya think harry ?_ '

__________

"C'mon mate, its only for one video!" Harry reasoned as his best friend, and sometimes 'guest star', Zayn, sat glaring at him from across the room.

"No. absolutely not. I'm not helping you with any more videos since what happened last time." Zayn spat. Harry threw his head back in a laugh as he sat back on the sofa, draping his arm over the back. He was currently trying to talk Zayn into letting him turn his spare bedroom into a giant ball pit as an idea for his newest YouTube video. He already had everything planned out, he just needed Zayn's approval which was not easily obtained. Ever since the last mishap―which had everything to do with rubber bands and an exploding watermelon―Zayn has refused to let Harry perform experiments in his apartment. They do usually result in a mess so it wasn't _completely_ unfair but Harry did have fans to entertain and that meant doing everything that would keep their attention. Of course, all of Harry's videos weren't what Zayn called 'pointless science projects', most of them were actually just him talking about requested topics and answering questions that he received online. But Harry, being Harry, just had to change it up every once in a while.

"But this idea isn't going to be messy, its not like we'll be cleaning up for weeks after or anything again." Harry grinned, earning a stern look from his friend. 

"Months. It was months." Zayn stood up from the opposite sofa and plucked the television remote from the entertainment center before switching the tv on. He frowned upon thinking for a moment and turned to face Harry again, giving a look of pure confusion as he returned to his seat. "But anyway, where would you even get enough stuff for that? And where do you put it all when you're done? Because you sure as hell are not turning my guest room into a bloody ball pit and leaving everything here. Why can't you do this to your own house?" In the middle of all of Zayn's questions, Harry noticed that his voice had gotten slightly higher in agitation and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Because, I have a roommate, and therefore I do not have a spare room. But never mind that, I have my ways of getting what I need." Harry grinned smugly and brought his heels up onto the coffee table in front of him which earned a swat from Zayn's hand so he lowered them back down, crossing his ankle over his knee instead. "But, I actually didn't think of where I'd put it all when I'm done." Harry gave a look of disappointment while Zayn scoffed and turned his attention back to the tv, aimlessly scrolling through channels.

"You should put it all in Liam's room, I'm sure he'd love that." Zayn joked. Liam was Harry's roommate who also happened to be the victim of many of Harry's pranks, the poor lad. Harry laughed out loud and nodded, almost considering that suggestion before deciding against it―he had already saran wrapped Liam's door frame this week, a break would probably be best for his sake. Harry finally let out a small sigh, deciding to give it a rest for a while, and fiddled with his phone to pass the time while he thought of another idea, instantly seeing the twitter notifications that flashed up on his screen. 

"Hey, Zayn.." Harry muttered, earning a grunt of acknowledgement from his friend. "You know that guy Niall Horan, right? The gamer, the one from Ireland?"

"Blonde hair, right?" Harry nodded even though he knew Zayn probably wasn't looking. "Yeah, I know of him, what about him?" 

"He thinks we should do a collaboration. I think it'd be pretty good, what do you think?" Harry set his phone in his lap and looked over to Zayn who still had his eyes locked on the TV in front of them.

"Well your fans would be really happy, I've seen how many of them talk about you two doing a vid. You'd probably get some really good feedback." Zayn snickered "Definitely would if you gave him a snog. They ship you guys like mad, I'm telling you." Harry couldn't help but laugh at Zayn's comment, shaking his head as he proceeded to type out his reply to his wildly requested video companion.

' _ **@harrystyles:** @niallofficial Sounds like a plan, I'm ready when you are x_ '  
__________

Niall nearly screamed as he was waiting in line at his favourite coffee shop when he finally saw Harry's tweet. He felt as if he would nearly pass out right in the middle of the shop so he had to take a moment to let himself freak out once it was his time to order, all but collapsing onto the counter in front of the register.

"Well, nice to see you too Nialler. The usual I'm guessing?" Louis, the barista, who also happened to be Niall's best friend, asked with a stifled laugh. Niall just mumbled a 'yeah', his voice barely audible as his face was pressed into his arm on top of the counter. Louis turned to grab a cup from the stack behind him and swatted at Niall's arms to move him out of the way. "Niall, get up, people are staring and I've got other customers. Move over and, tell me what's up." Niall groaned and stood himself up straight, moving to the left of the register so Louis could tend to his next customer before getting started on Niall's coffee.

"Harry freaking Styles agreed to do a collab video with me Louis, _he_ actually said _yes_. And he ended his reply with an x, look!" Niall knew that he looked―and probably sounded like―like a proper fangirl as he pulled out his phone and waved it in front of Louis' face, Harry's tweet lit up on the screen.

"Oh for god's sake, Niall, hold it still!" Louis pulled his hand from the coffee pot to grab Niall's wrist, holding it in place so he could properly read what his friend was completely losing his wits about. Niall stood impatiently as his older friend read over the tweet repeatedly, throwing his hand into the air as soon as Louis let go of his arm.

"Lou, what do I do? I didn't think he'd actually agree to it. He's not a gamer, what are we even supposed to do?" Niall's words flew out of his mouth at the speed of light and Louis took note of the glares he was receiving from his customers as he handed Niall his freshly brewed cup, shushing his hysterical friend. 

"Just do a question and answer video or summat." Louis shrugged as he took another cup from the stack. "We can talk later though, yeah? I can't keep diddling away with you when I've got customers lining up now shoo." Niall grimaced at Louis' choice of words, scrunching his nose up in distaste as Louis grinned and rung up the next person in line. Niall simply rolled his eyes and finally let out a small laugh as he grabbed his coffee, finally giving Louis a friendly smile and a nod before turning to leave.

"Come by when you're done!" Niall called out over his shoulder and took a sip of his coffee, pushing the door open to face the brisk air outside. He strolled down the sidewalk, glancing in store windows and occasionally watching the people he passed as he held his coffee securely in both hands to keep them warm, trying to decide if he should have a day of actually being out of his house for a while. Niall wasn't an antisocial person, he just liked the comfort of his own home. Specifically because it was much warmer—and because he didn't have to wear pants but he wouldn't tell anyone that—so he finally gave in and decided to start on the walk home, taking another swig of his drink, the hot liquid soothing him from the inside out. But just as he pulled the cup from his lips, he heard the familiar ping of a new twitter message from his phone and it took Niall everything in him to keep from spewing coffee from his mouth when he saw that it was a direct message from Harry. 

_'I was thinking, we could meet up and get a plan together for this video some time. when's the soonest that you're free?'_

Niall nearly choked as he swallowed, hitting himself in the chest while he coughed and his face turning slightly red, he was certain that he probably looked right mad to passersby. He cleared his throat one last time once he got himself under control and tapped at his screen to type up a reply, his hand trembling slightly from either the adrenaline of nearly dying at the hands of his own coffee or the sheer fact of replying to Harry Styles. Niall hoped it was the former because he didn't want to be a complete fanboy but he knew in the back of his mind that it wasn't. 

_'well.. I'm free now?'_

Niall didn't want to seem too eager but he also felt that maybe his reply was slightly colder than he had intended. Harry didn't seem to mind though because when he replied not even thirty seconds later, all exclamation points and smiling emojis, he sent Niall an invitation to meet him at a cafe downtown for lunch. Niall agreed and since he had a couple of hours before the planned time, he figured he had time to stop by a few stores to not only give himself something to do but also to calm himself down. The last thing he wanted was to be falling on his face in front of Harry and considering his last reaction, he was pretty sure he would if he didn't give himself a good mental talking to beforehand. 

\----------

"He's just a guy." Niall told himself for nearly the fifteenth time that afternoon as he approached the cafe. "Just a normal guy, like me." He stopped, his hand hovering over the handle as he looked through the window to see none other than Harry Styles sat in a booth along the far wall, his toned arms resting on top of the table as he seemed to be completely absorbed in whatever was on his phone. His dark hair fell along the sides of his face, framing it perfectly, and his long legs stretched out all of the way to the booth across from him. Niall couldn't help but stare for a moment, suddenly forgetting that he still had to breathe. 

"Except hotter." Niall muttered to himself and pulled the door open, instantly feeling the heat of the room as he stepped inside and took a deep breath. The door shut behind him and Harry looked up from his phone, grinning widely and holding a hand up to Niall as if to call him over as he sat up a bit, bringing his legs closer to himself to give Niall room to actually sit down. Harry held out a hand over the table once Niall got situated and Niall shyly shook his hand, instantly feeling the heat rising to his cheeks when their hands touched. 

"So, I get to meet Niall Horan, how lucky am I?" Harry grinned, resting his arms back on the table and leaned over it ever so slightly. Niall let out a nervous laugh and folded his hands neatly in his lap, shrugging his shoulders in an attempt to seem cool.

"Its nice to finally meet _you_ , your videos are great, I've watched all of them." Niall mentally slapped himself as soon as the words left his mouth because that's a _lot_ of videos and he didn't want to sound like an obsessed fan, but the look of pure amusement on Harry's face made him realize that Harry didn't mind at all. Harry just laughed and ran a hand through his hair, pushing his dark curls away from his face, and Niall just couldn't tear his eyes away from where Harry had left the top few buttons of his shirt undone. He could see the very edges of the birds tattooed on his collarbones and Niall desperately wanted to reach across the table and just touch one, but instead he tucked his hands under his thighs to keep his hands to himself.

Harry chuckled as he pulled his coat from the space beside him to drape it over the back of the booth. "So you know how I work then." Niall snapped his eyes back up to Harry's and nodded quickly, giving him a quick smile.

"Yeah, I do. Lots of pranks and such." Niall replied and took another deep breath, pushing himself to concentrate on the conversation itself rather than the Greek god sat in front of him. "My mate Louis suggested that we could just do a question and answer video, we could do that." Harry opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself when Niall spoke again. "Unless you don't want to, we can do something else, it doesn't really matter. We could go somewhere or try a game or-" Niall stopped, his cheeks burning when he realized he had started rambling, and he noticed the way Harry's lips were curled upwards into a smile. "Sorry, I'm just, okay, what were you going to say?"

Harry shook his head slightly and laughed as he spoke, waving a hand nonchalantly. "I was just gonna suggest doing truth or dare. We could have people send in stuff and hen we'll just.. do that for the video." Harry just shrugged dismissively and flashed Niall a bright grin as he sat back in his seat. "But we can talk brainstorm about ideas and stuff after we get something to eat, yeah? You hungry?"

Niall smiled in return and nodded his head, letting out a breath of relief, and Harry called the waitress over for a pair of menus. The two finally ordered their food and chatted about day to day things over their sandwiches, occasionally throwing in whatever random idea for a video popped into their heads as they ate and Niall found himself to be far more at ease than he was from the start―although he still had the recurring urge to just crawl into Harry's lap and kiss him into next year―so he ended up having a lot of fun. They both decided on Harry's idea of truth or dare so when they finished their meal, they both sent out a brand new tweets inviting their fans to participate and then set up a day the following week for filming. They agreed to film at Niall's, since he was the one without a roommate, and Harry insisted that they exchange numbers before he headed on his way. Harry looked back over his shoulder one more time and flashed Niall another one of his perfect smiles that made Niall blush harder than he had any other time that afternoon. Needless to say, Niall was beaming with excitement when he finally got to tell Louis about it that evening―also blushing wildly when Louis picked on him for having a crush―and he nearly flat out died when Harry texted him that night asking to get together again.

\----------

"So, Niall, truth or dare?" Harry asked, the two of them were sat on the floor in Niall's living room, Niall's camera sat in front of them as they took turns reading off their fans' tweets. They had spent most of the time laughing at each other's reactions than anything else―although there was one time when a fan dared Harry to try to do a headstand, which resulted in him nearly squashing Niall, and they both laughed for a good three minutes about that one―but it was Niall's turn again. Harry had just been dared to explain what each of his tattoos meant so he had pulled his shirt off halfway into it to show his inked torso and Niall hadn't been able to look away since. He hadn't even registered that Harry had asked him a question until Harry had pulled his shirt back on and leaned in a bit, a worried expression on his face. "Niall, you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah! I'm- I'm fine, sorry." Niall stammered and offered a smile as he pulled his knees up to his chest, taking a moment to think about his answer. "I'm gonna say truth." 

"Again?" Harry chuckled and gently elbowed Niall in the side. "Come on Niall, you've gotta do a dare, you've said truth every time."

"And you've said dare every time!" Niall fired back, his smile growing even wider. Niall had gotten much less nervous around Harry since the day at the cafe, as long as he didn't let his mind wander that is. They hung out a few times prior to filming and Niall was finally able to hold a conversation without blushing but he still spent his spare time with nothing but Harry in his head.

Harry held up his hands in defeat as he nodded his head. "You're right, you're right. How about this time, you do a dare and I'll do a truth after? How's that sound?" Niall groaned and let go of his knees to sit cross-legged.

"Alright, go ahead. Dare me." Niall breathed out, the corners of his mouth turned upwards as Harry scrolled through several tweets and it was only when Harry looked up at him with a sly grin that Niall suddenly became nervous again. 

"Your good friend Louis Tomlinson says: 'Niall, I dare you to confess your crush.'" Niall's heart stopped and he made a mental note to kill Louis the next time he saw him. "'PS: you'll thank me later.'" Harry turned the phone around for Niall to see and sure enough, there was Louis' tweet lit up on Harry's screen. Niall had mentioned Louis in a few of he and Harry's conversations, Harry was aware that Niall knew him personally, so it didn't surprise Harry when Niall held up his middle finger at the camera as he tried to hide his face.

Niall just knew that his entire face was bright red and Harry grinned wildly as Niall buried his face in his hands. "Louis, I swear to god." He then turned to face Harry and Niall just wanted to slap the dimpled grin off of his face. "I don't have a crush." Niall lied, hoping to god that Harry would move on but of course, he didn't. 

"C'mon, you've got to have a crush, Louis wouldn't have sent that if you didn't." Harry prodded and gently pulled Niall's hands from his face to turn him towards the camera again. Harry rested his hands on Niall's shoulders and Niall just felt like he was on fire, like at any moment he would just pass out. "Whoever it is, they're quite lucky to have Niall Horan pining over them." Niall glanced over at Harry for a split second before turning away, squeezing his eyes shut in fear of Harry's reaction as he mumbles out a small 'you' barely loud enough for Harry to hear. 

"What did you say?" Harry asked, his hands falling from Niall's shoulders a bit as he leaned closer to him but Niall just couldn't. He was so angry at Louis for sending in that dare, angry at Harry for choosing it, and just angry with himself for being angry about something that he shouldn't even be upset about.

"I said you!" Niall blurted out as he quickly turned to face the other boy and pulled himself out of his reach. "It's you, Harry, I barely even know you..." His voice quieted to just above a whisper while he focused his eyes on anything, everything in the room but Harry before they landed on his hands that rested in his lap. "...but it's you." Niall wrapped his arms around his stomach and turned his face away from Harry and the camera to close his eyes and take a few deep breaths. He was glad that they hadn't done a live video, at least all of that could be edited out, they could record a new video or just not even do one at all. Niall was sure that Harry thought of him differently after knowing that he was Niall's crush, that he would leave right in the middle of recording and ignore him for all eternity, then that would result in Niall letting his fans down and his YouTuber status would be finished. So in Niall's mind, everything was ruined. But, the moment Niall felt Harry's hand cupping his face and turning his head to match his blue eyes with Harry's green, all of that changed and all of his breath was knocked right out of his lungs when Harry leaned in and firmly pressed their lips together. Niall couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief against Harry's lips and his heart skipped a beat when Harry tilted his head ever so slightly and licked into his mouth. He had just brought his hand up to cup the back of Harry's neck when he suddenly remembered the camera that was _still recording_ and he leaned back enough to break the kiss, causing Harry to lean forward in chase of his lips. 

"Harry, the video-" Niall started before Harry cut him off with another kiss, grumbling a low "I don't care' into Niall's mouth and Niall didn't even try to protest as Harry pinned him down on the floor, their bodies pressed together and their hands roaming, because Niall knew he didn't really mind that much anyway.


End file.
